Researchers explain why ADHD continues to affect many adults

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is growing up. Stephen Hinshaw and Katherine Ellison authors of the newly published book, ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know, confirm that adults — and particularly women — are reporting to clinics in record numbers, becoming the fastest-growing part of the population receiving diagnoses and prescriptions for stimulant medications.

“ADHD was never just for kids, and today many adults are getting the help they’ve needed for years,” says Hinshaw, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a respected global expert on ADHD.

Ellison, a Pultizer-prize winning journalist, notes, “At least half of all children diagnosed with ADHD will continue to be impaired by their symptoms as adults, suggesting that approximately 10 million U.S. adults qualify for the diagnosis. Adult ADHD can lead to suffering through commonly accompanying disorders such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, antisocial behavior, and gambling or Internet addictions. Social ties may well be frayed, with high risk of difficulties in intimate relationships. And, people with ADHD are also more likely to have a bitter history of academic and professional failures.”